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I should have probably mentioned in the OP that we are in a rural area on a small acreage so zoning/building restrictions are not a concern. Only concern is making the right choice as far as size/scale in relation to the house and usability. Heck, this county didn't even have building permits until 1999! Gotta love rural America.
Okay, just a thought so you did not have any building issues in the future.
I hope it all goes smoothly for you and I'm sure it will be beautiful and you will enjoy making many memories on your new porch.
Get a rope or a couple of boards or something and lay them out in the size of the different front porches you're considering. Then put a small table and chairs inside the rope lines and see how it all fits. IMHO (and I'm a draftsperson so my job is drawing up house plans) the MINIMUM useful width is eight feet and that's still pretty narrow. If it were me, I'd opt for twelve to fourteen feet if you're planning on using it as living space. Since the lower roof will be at a lesser pitch, it won't be as visually large as the steeper pitched roof.
Compromising usefulness for style isn't very good. A small narrow porch might look nice but you won't be able to do much with it. If it's a lovely porch big enough to hang out on with your family, nobody is gonna sit there and say "oh, it's too large, it overwhelms the house". Nope, they will say "what a great place to be!"
We put an 8ft porch on our house in 2007. Remember if you put railings on the porch, which we did, you lose about 6 inches from the rail to the end. Our porch fits chairs with ottomans. I also have a chaise lounge, but it's slanted from a corner since the depth is not long enough to put the back down and walk around the chaise if it comes straight out from the house. At one point I had a love seat that fit along the 8ft length, but I replace it with the chaise.
Sounds like you should pick 8ft for the depth. The 4/12 roof will still be able to shed water, but if the rain storms mostly hit the front of the house you might need to be especially careful with flashing the area where the porch roof abuts the house. I am not an expert but this is my take on it. (Also, in our area there is a preference for a minimum 5/12 to avoid water back-splashing under the shingles during a storm.) And about the railing, if the porch is not too high off the ground, and if you don't need to pull permits, you might initially leave the railing off. It is fun to sit on the edge and dangle your legs over.
Get a rope or a couple of boards or something and lay them out in the size of the different front porches you're considering. Then put a small table and chairs inside the rope lines and see how it all fits. IMHO (and I'm a draftsperson so my job is drawing up house plans) the MINIMUM useful width is eight feet and that's still pretty narrow. If it were me, I'd opt for twelve to fourteen feet if you're planning on using it as living space. Since the lower roof will be at a lesser pitch, it won't be as visually large as the steeper pitched roof.
Compromising usefulness for style isn't very good. A small narrow porch might look nice but you won't be able to do much with it. If it's a lovely porch big enough to hang out on with your family, nobody is gonna sit there and say "oh, it's too large, it overwhelms the house". Nope, they will say "what a great place to be!"
Exactly!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by luv4horses
Sounds like you should pick 8ft for the depth. The 4/12 roof will still be able to shed water, but if the rain storms mostly hit the front of the house you might need to be especially careful with flashing the area where the porch roof abuts the house. I am not an expert but this is my take on it. (Also, in our area there is a preference for a minimum 5/12 to avoid water back-splashing under the shingles during a storm.) And about the railing, if the porch is not too high off the ground, and if you don't need to pull permits, you might initially leave the railing off. It is fun to sit on the edge and dangle your legs over.
Another good idea, especially in a rural setting. Traditionally, country homes with "farmer porches" (which I think is the look the OP is going for from the photo), don't have railings.
Yep, 6' depth is a squeeze but can be comfortable, if you are thinking about a table then 8' minimum. Here in very code heavy California anything over 2' requires a guard rail, so if it's under that you should be fine without.
Also I would be very cognizant about the design, proportions and alignment of the posts/columns and the architive (carrying beams) of the porch, the style and detailing should match the house. And a pilaster or an engaged column looks (and supports) better than a beam just diving into the wall.
Thanks for all the input, everyone. Our contractor is coming by tomorrow to further discuss the plan and ideas. We measured it out yesterday and I do think we will opt to go with an 8 foot depth. Unfortunately it does have to have rails, as we are on a hill and the land in front slopes down pretty dramatically. Going out 8 feet will definitely put us up too high to be without rails. I wish I could go for the true open farm porch, but have to work with what we have. The plus side to rails is that with the addition of a gate, it will be possible to let the dog/kids out on the porch without having to worry about them disappearing off into the woods!
I should have probably mentioned in the OP that we are in a rural area on a small acreage so zoning/building restrictions are not a concern. Only concern is making the right choice as far as size/scale in relation to the house and usability. Heck, this county didn't even have building permits until 1999! Gotta love rural America.
If they have building permits then they likely have restrictions.
While your house is small an 8 ft. porch could work if the roofline is done right. If you do say 5 ft. you'll have a lot of waste.
Well, the contractor came out last night and after discussion and measurements we decided to stick with the original 8 foot depth. I think that will give us a good usable porch while maintaining visual scale with the rest of the house. It'll be a few weeks to get the drawings completed and permit issued, but then progress can begin. Assuming good weather, the whole process should take about a month. Our house faces east, so I'm very much looking forward to that first morning where I can sit out and drink my coffee while watching the sun rise over the mountain!
We also live in the "sticks" and are 400' feet from the road. We have a ranch (circa 2005), which was built with a front porch of about 5' depth. If I were to redo the porch I would definitely go with 6-8' to allow for furniture. We built a large screened in porch on the back of the house which made more sense than adding on to the front porch.
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